Whether creativity can be taught or not has remained an unresolved and recurring topic of debate in creative writing. Writing that is creative and imaginative is distinguished from translation, which is more derivative. However, both activities are creative in their own unique ways. With the intent of fostering creativity in creative writing, I…

This paper reports on an out of school creative writing collaboration between a grandmother (the author) and her then eleven-year-old granddaughter, and suggests ways in which this may be relevant to writing in school. The narrative is framed and analysed in the light of Donald Graves' concepts of process writing. The paper highlights the…

Writing creatively, expressively, and reflectively to aid the grieving process is founded on the idea that in order to survive and thrive after loss, personal meaning must be made of what has been suffered. The individualisation and secularisation of society has put the onus of meaning making on the individual while an abiding reservation about…

Diane Relf was concerned by what felt like an unbridgeable gulf between Year 7's vocabulary and comprehension, and her aspirations both for their inclusion in history and their later academic success. As a subject leader without the benefit of any history-specific training at the start of her career, she embarked on a journey of intensive reading…

The session that the AATSP organized at this year's MLA Convention in Boston (held on January 4, 2013) was dedicated to a topic that has been the object of constant debate in the past decades: the use of "Spanglish" as a marker of identity among US Latinos. The author states that she puts "Spanglish" into quotation marks…

This study explores various linguistic strategies that characterize what is commonly referred to as "Spanglish"; namely, code-switching, code-mixing, borrowings and other language contact phenomena commonly employed by Chicana/o bilinguals. The analysis of linguistic features is based on creative pieces of writing produced by Chicana/o…

In much of the literature on the exploitation of corpora for language learning, the learners are viewed as researchers, who formulate and test their own hypotheses about language use. Having identified difficulties encountered in corpus investigations by our intermediate-level students of Italian in a previous study, we have designed a…

In June 2008, the Department of English at the University of Minnesota partnered with the Minnesota Spoken Word Association to inaugurate an outreach literacy program for local high-school students and teachers. The four-day institute, named "In Da Tradition," used spoken word and hip hop to teach academic and creative writing to core-city…

Describes a poetry writing project that uses the "strangeness" of German to beginning students as an impetus for creativity, demonstrating students' unexpected linguistic resourcefulness and the use of the poems as inspiration for more innovative teaching and learning within a task-oriented and communicative curriculum. (Author/CB)

The principle of empathic learning (involving activities that help students feel what it is to be like someone else) can be used to teach poetry, a material about which students have strong prejudices, and an activity they cannot imagine themselves ever doing or being interested in. First, students are presented with the conception that people…

A description of the role and status of English language use and instruction in Australia looks at English within the education systems of the seven states and the Australian Capital Territory at all levels, both for native speakers and students of English as a second language. The following areas are also examined (1) the use of English by…

A survey of the status and use of the English language in Algeria is presented. The following topics are outlined: (1) the role of English as a third language, (2) its place within the educational system at all levels and in each graduate institution, (3) the status of British expatriates teaching English in Algeria and of Algerian teachers of…

A profile of the role and status of the English language in Lesotho, Africa, is presented. The following topics are outlined: (1) the extent of the use of English as the second official language; (2) instruction in English at the elementary and secondary levels and at each of the postsecondary institutions in the country; (3) the number, ratio,…

A summary of the state of English language instruction in Belgium outlines the role and status of English usage in that country; English instruction at 11 levels of the instructional system, including elementary and secondary education in Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels, university instruction, examinations, and correspondence courses; English…

A review of English language usage and instruction in Spain describes the role and status of English in society, and outlines the situation of English-as-a-second-language instruction within the educational system at all levels. The profile covers the following areas: the characteristics, qualifications, and pre- and in-service training of English…